Chapter 5

Classical Civilizations:

Persia & Greece

Persia• Contemporary Iran

• Four major dynasties

–Achaemenids (558-330 BCE)

–Seleucids (323-283 BCE)

–Parthians (247 BCE-224 CE)

–Sasanids (224-651 CE)

Achaemenid Empire (558-330 BCE)• Migration of Medes and Persians from central Asia,

before 1000 BCE– Indo-Europeans

• Capitalized on weakening Assyrian and Babylonian empires

• Cyrus (r. 558-530 BCE) founder of dynasty– “Cyrus the Shepherd”

• Peak under Darius (r. 521-486 BCE)– Ruled Indus to the Aegean– Capital Persepolis

Achaemenid Administration:The Satrapies

• 23 Administrative divisions

• Satraps Persian, but staff principally local

• System of spies, surprise audits

– Minimized possibilities of local rebellion

• Standardized currency for taxation purposes

• Massive road building, courier services

Technological Developments

• Qanat: System of underground canals

– Avoided excessive loss to evaporation

• Extensive road-building

– Persian Royal Road

• 1,600 miles, some of it paved

– Courier service

Decline of the Achaemenids

• Policy of toleration under Cyrus, Darius

– Rebuilding of Temple in Jerusalem

• Xerxes (486-465 BCE) attempts to impose Persian stamp on satrapies

• Increasing public discontent

Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)

• Rebellious Greeks in Ionia

• Peninsular Greeks join in

• Persians defeated at Marathon (490 BCE), retreated

• Alexander the Great conquers the Achaemenid Empire (334-331 BCE)

Seleucid Empire

• Alexander the Great dies suddenly

• Generals divide empire, best part goes to Seleucus (r. 305-281 BCE)

• Attacked by rebellion in India, invasion of Parthians

The Achaemenid and Seleucid empires, 558-83 B.C.E.

Seleucid & Parthian Empires

Don’t really need to know them.

You’re welcome.

Sasanid Empire (224-651 CE)

• Claimed descent from Achaemenids

• Continual conflicts with Rome, Byzantium in the west, Kush in the east

• Overwhelmed by Arab conquest in 651

• Persian administration and culture absorbed into local Islamic culture

Persian Society

• Early steppe traditions

– Warriors, priests, peasants

– Family/clan kinship very important

• Creation of bureaucrat class with Empire

– Tax collectors

– Record keepers

– translators

Slave Class

• Prisoners of war, conquered populations

• Debtors

• Children, spouses also sold into slavery

• Principally domestic servitude

– Some agricultural labor, public works

Persian Economy

• Several areas exceptionally fertile

• Long-distance trade benefits from Persian road-building

• Goods from India especially valued

Zoroastrianism

• Early Aryan influences on Persian religious traditions

• Zarathustra (late 7th-early 6th c. BCE)• Prophet of Ahura Mazda, against Angra Mainu • Priests of Zarathustra known as Magi• Oral teachings until Sasanid period composed

Gathas

Fortunes of Zoroastrianism

• Under Alexander: Massacre of Magi, burning Zoroastrian temples

• Weak Parthian support

• Major revival under Sasanids, persecution of non-Zoroastrians

• Discrimination under Islam

Other Religious Groups in the Persian Empires

• Major Mesopotamian communities of Jews

• Composition of the Talmud, c. 500 CE

– “constitution of Judaism”

• Buddhism, Christianity and Manichaeism also survived

Mediterranean Society:

The Greek Phase

Early Development of Greek Society

• Minoan Society– Island of Crete– Major city: Knossos

• C. 2200 BCE center of maritime trade

• Undeciphered syllabic alphabet (Linear A)

Decline of Minoan Society

• Series of natural disasters after 1700 BCE– Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves

• Foreign invasions

• Foreign domination by 1100 BCE

Mycenaean Society

• Indo-european invaders descend through Balkans into Peloponnesus, c. 2200 BCE

• Influenced by Minoan culture

• Major settlement: Mycenae

• Military expansion throughout region

Chaos in the Eastern Mediterranean

• Trojan war, c. 1200 BCE– Homer’s The Iliad– Sequel: The Odyssey

• Political turmoil, chaos from 1100 to 800 BCE

• Mycenaean civilization disappears

The Polis (plural = poleis)

• City-state

• Urban center, dominating surrounding rural areas

• Highly independent character– Monarchies– “Tyrannies” – not

necessarily oppressive– Early Democracies

Sparta

• Highly militarized society

• Subjugated peoples: helots– Serfs, tied to land– Outnumbered Spartans 10:1 by 6th c. BCE

• Military society developed to control threat of rebellion

Spartan Society

• Austerity the norm

• Boys removed from families at age seven– Received military training in barracks– Active military service follows

• Marriage, but no home life until age 30

• Some relaxation of discipline by 4th c. CE

Athens

• Development of early democracy– Free, adult males only– Women, slaves excluded

• Encouraging of culture – art, music, drama, philosophy

Athenian Society

• Maritime trade brings increasing prosperity beginning 7th c. BCE

• Aristocrats dominate smaller landholders

• Increasing socio-economic tensions– Class conflict

Pericles

• Ruled 461-429 BCE

• High point of Athenian democracy

• Aristocratic but popular

• Massive public works

• Encouraged cultural development

Greek Colonization

• Population expansion drives colonization– Coastal Mediterranean, Black sea

• Sicily (Naples: “nea polis,” new city)

• Southern France (Massalia: Marseilles)

• Anatolia

• Southern Ukraine

Classical Greece & the Mediterranean Region800-500 B.C.E.

Effects of Greek Colonization

• Trade throughout region

• Communication of ideas– Language, culture

• Political and social effects

Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)

• Revolt against Persian Empire 500 BCE in Ionia

• Athens supports with ships

• Greek rebellion crushed by Darius 493 BCE; routed in 490

• Successor Xerxes burns Athens, but driven out as well

The Delian League

• Poleis create Delian League to forestall more Persian attacks

• Led by Athens– Massive payments to Athens fuels Periclean

expansion– Resented by other poleis

The Peloponnesian War

• Civil war in Greece, 431-404 BCE

• Poleis allied with either Athens or Sparta

• Athens forced to surrender

• But conflict continued between Sparta and other poleis

Kingdom of Macedon

• Frontier region to north of Peloponnesus

• King Philip II (r. 359-336 BCE) builds massive military

• 350 BCE encroaches on Greek poleis to the south, controls region by 338 BCE

Alexander of Macedon

• “the Great,” son of Philip II

• Rapid expansion throughout Mediterranean basin

• Invasion of Persia successful

• Turned back in India when exhausted troops mutinied

Alexander's Empire, c. 323 B.C.E.

The Hellenistic Empires

• After Alexander’s death, competition for empire

• Divided by generals

– Antigonus: Greece and Macedon

– Ptolemy: Egypt

– Seleucus: Persian Achaemenid Empire

• Economic integration, Intellectual cross-fertilization

The Hellenistic Empires

Trade and Integration of the Mediterranean Basin

• Greece: little grain, but rich in olives and grapes

• Colonies further trade

• Commerce rather than agriculture as basis of much of economy

The Greek Language

• Borrowed Phoenician alphabet

• Added vowels

• Complex language– “middle” voice

• Allowed for communication of abstract ideas– Philosophy

Socrates (470-399 BCE)

• The Socratic Method

• Student: Plato

• Public gadfly, tried and condemned on charges of “corrupting the youth of Athens”

• Forced to drink hemlock

Plato (430-347 BCE)

• Systematized Socratic thought

• The Republic– Parable of the Cave– Theory of Forms/Ideas

Aristotle (389-322 BCE)

• Student of Plato

• Broke with Theory of Forms/Ideas

• Emphasis on empirical findings, reason

• Massive impact on western thought

• Tutor to Alexander

Greek Theology

• Polytheism

• Zeus principal god

• Religious cults– Eleusinian mysteries– The Bacchae– Rituals eventually domesticated

Greek Drama

• Evolution from public presentations of cultic rituals

• Major tragic playwrights (5th c. BCE)– Aeschylus– Sophocles– Euripides

• Comedy: Aristophanes